Robert Matthew

L’époustouflante révélation d’un mystère haletant! Les Carolines, 1699. Rachel Howarth est coupable de sorcellerie et condamnée à périr sur le bûcher. Ainsi en a décidé le juge Isaac Woodward après avoir entendu les témoignages accablants des habitants du petit village de Fount Royal. Mais Matthew, le jeune clerc du juge, décide de mener sa propre enquête. Rassemblant les pièces du puzzle de la vérité, il comprend bientôt qu’il n’a d’autre choix que de vaincre une force plus maléfique que la sorcellerie s’il veut avoir une chance d’innocenter une femme vertueuse… et de sauver les citoyens de Fount Royal d’une terrible menace..

The Carlock-Combet Duo return to SOMM RECORDINGS with a trio of ravishing Romantic Violin Sonatas by Schubert, Robert Schumann and Grieg.

Perhaps no composer embodied the new spirit of comradeship and collaboration between England and France more enthusiastically than the Bradford-born, Paris-domiciled Frederick Delius. His Sonata in B major offers a becoming portrait of the then 30-year-old composer; youthfully dramatic with a growing virtuosity and vigour that makes it seem, as Robert Matthew-Walker notes in his erudite booklet notes, like the “extended and manifestly symphonic composition” it is.
Composed at the same age, John Ireland’s breakthrough First Violin Sonata combines Edwardian elegance with a hint of French Impressionism gleaned from Debussy – whose late, last Violin Sonata in G minor is a work of profoundly-expressed emotions – and Ravel, whose Pièce en forme de habanera is hauntingly memorable.While resident in Paris in the early years of the last century, Cyril Scott enjoyed cordial relations with Ravel and Debussy, who particularly admired his music. His Valse Caprice and arrangement of Cherry Ripe infuse well-mannered salon pieces with lithe French elegance. Similarly so, Arnold Bax’s ever-popular picture-postcard Mediterranean in its vivacious arrangement by Jascha Heifetz.Clare Howick and Simon Callaghan’s "British Violin Sonatas" was hailed by MusicWeb International as a “fascinating collection of works, expertly performed with unalloyed musicality and commitment”.

Somm Recordings is proud to announce a landmark recording for lovers of British music featuring 23 first recordings of piano pieces by Sir Granville Bantock, one of the most influential British composers of his age. Performed by Maria Marchant, 'Bantock Rediscovered' is being issued to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Bantock's birth in 1868. Composed between 1894 and 1938, these immensely varied, beautifully crafted works – never before heard on disc – illustrate fascinating aspects of Bantock's artistry and music.